NHL players of Yugoslavian descent

It reminds me that story about some fan yelling "Polak, go back to Poland!". Of course Roman Polak is a Czech, not a Pole. Shved means Swede in Russian and Alexey Shved is Russian for sure. So it can be the same story with Horvat.

All the irish people named Finn must of course be finnish

But Reijo Ruotsalainen must be swedish since his last name is the finnis word for swedish!

Amazingly if we could claim all English speaking people called "Dane" as first name!
On the eliteprospects there is actually a Canadian guy called "Dane Horvat" - Danish Croat!
I wonder who has the right there - first name or surname?!

Edit: Also Oscar Dansk (Swedish Columbus goalie prospect) should really be "Danish" (because that it what his surname means in both Danish and Swedish.

It could be both, but it's not a very common surname. Grahovac (with an H) is much more common and is seen mostly with Serbs. It could be that at some point the H was taken out of his surname.

It's tricky with those surnames. For example, I was 100% that Popovic (very common Serbian surname) is Serb, while Glumac is Croat and actually I found it was opposite. Popovic is Croat (his parents are very active in croatian community in Toronto), while Glumac is Serb (his grandparents are from Serbia and were also active in serbian community in Niagara Falls).

Was on the ECHL website and notice one of my favourite junior player Phil Orescovic had ballooned up to 245 lbs. Thought he could be a descent Zagreb option but probably not anymore. Either lack of motivation from not seeing promotions to the AHL or too much Burek.

Was on the ECHL website and notice one of my favourite junior player Phil Orescovic had ballooned up to 245 lbs. Thought he could be a descent Zagreb option but probably not anymore. Either lack of motivation from not seeing promotions to the AHL or too much Burek.

He was an option during Medvescak's EBEL time...but now, no way. Way under KHL quality requirements and even if he is good enough they would probably not even ask him to join Bears as he opted for ECHL over EBEL (!!??).

Burek... good one. I assume he would ballooned to 345 here in Croatia with all those cro food delicateses.

He was an option during Medvescak's EBEL time...but now, no way. Way under KHL quality requirements and even if he is good enough they would probably not even ask him to join Bears as he opted for ECHL over EBEL (!!??).

Burek... good one. I assume he would ballooned to 345 here in Croatia with all those cro food delicateses.

I don't know why he wouldn't at that point in his career. He had nothing to lose and it would have been a new experience, many people I know who are Croatian descent are very proud of their heritage and wouldn't hesitate grabbing an opportunity like that. Maybe Phil is only half Croat however.

I've tried, Ćevapi, Burek, šnicle, etc I felt you really needed a special stomach to metabolise these foods. I probably couldn't stay slim for long myself tbh but people from the Balkans seem to digest it fine idk maybe its genetics. Btw he's likely MUCH better off in Croatia than exposed to the junk in America.

I don't know why he wouldn't at that point in his career. He had nothing to lose and it would have been a new experience, many people I know who are Croatian descent are very proud of their heritage and wouldn't hesitate grabbing an opportunity like that. Maybe Phil is only half Croat however.

It is not about been proud of croatian heritage. It is about that Phil (when it was obvious that he won't play single NHL game anymore) refused Medvescak over two-way contract AHL/ECHL. Had he signed with us during EBEL time, maybe he would have prove himself as KHL worthy, at least for bottom pairings. Like Martinovic did, who was 7th defender in DEL prior to siging with us in EBEL and now in KHL he is playing over 20 minutes per night and is +5, which is best on the team.

Only KHL material with croatian descent, that are financialy reachable to Medvescak, left so far in NA are Drazenovic and Miskovic. MAYBE Mark Fistric...that would be dream coming true, but I think it is long shot.

It is not about been proud of croatian heritage. It is about that Phil (when it was obvious that he won't play single NHL game anymore) refused Medvescak over two-way contract AHL/ECHL. Had he signed with us during EBEL time, maybe he would have prove himself as KHL worthy, at least for bottom pairings. Like Martinovic did, who was 7th defender in DEL prior to siging with us in EBEL and now in KHL he is playing over 20 minutes per night and is +5, which is best on the team.

Only KHL material with croatian descent, that are financialy reachable to Medvescak, left so far in NA are Drazenovic and Miskovic. MAYBE Mark Fistric...that would be dream coming true, but I think it is long shot.

I didn't even know Drazenovic was Croatian I always assumed he was Serbian. Would be cool to see Bo Horvat in Zagreb for even one season since next year I feel he would be at the point of being too good for junior but not good enough for the NHL. However this would just be a fantasy and extremely unlikely. You may be right the only other player could be Geoff Paukovich? But I'm not sure of his ethnicity.

I didn't even know Drazenovic was Croatian I always assumed he was Serbian. Would be cool to see Bo Horvat in Zagreb for even one season since next year I feel he would be at the point of being too good for junior but not good enough for the NHL. However this would just be a fantasy and extremely unlikely. You may be right the only other player could be Geoff Paukovich? But I'm not sure of his ethnicity.

Of all the Slavic nations, ex-Yugoslav countries may rank last when it comes to national achievement in hockey and/or producing native-born players who go on to have success in the NHL.

Here are some Canadian or American NHL stars who were born to Croatian or more broadly Yugoslav parents, including Serbian, Slovenian and Macedonian.

Unquestionably the biggest star of them all is Joe Sakic. Both of his parents were born in Croatia.

In second place, Steven Stamkos. Macedonian father. Proud of his heritage. Great scorer. Note: Macedonian as in Slavic, not the historical Greeks. Macedonia was one of the 6 republics in Yugoslavia. Their language is closer to Bulgarian than Serbo-Croatian.

In third place, the Mahovlich brothers. Frank has over 1100 pts in the NHL. (croatian)

i cant belive noone mentioned Dekanich. he is of a proud croatian decent.
Also there is Luke Gazdic Medvescak wanted to get, he is doing ok i guess in his first NHL year, although low enough in points to get him maybe since he is an attacker. And Drazenovic will most likely come if he ever gets over his big dream to go to NHL from AHL.

Surname Horvat is written Horvath in Hungarian, Czech and Slovakian. The only countries where it's written Horvat are Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Slovenia (there's also Hrovat in Slovenia) and 99.9% of the persons who have that surname are of Croatian stock.

Surname Horvat is written Horvath in Hungarian, Czech and Slovakian. The only countries where it's written Horvat are Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Slovenia (there's also Hrovat in Slovenia) and 99.9% of the persons who have that surname are of Croatian stock.

maybe his "real" surname is Horvath, but was americanized to Horvat. With a "th" at the end, they would call him like Horvaf. If this isn´t the case, his ancestors should be from Croatia.

Surname Horvat is written Horvath in Hungarian, Czech and Slovakian. The only countries where it's written Horvat are Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia and Slovenia (there's also Hrovat in Slovenia) and 99.9% of the persons who have that surname are of Croatian stock.

I read somewhere while I was searching for answers that Bo Horvat is of Albanian descent...same as team-mate Max Domi. Sorry, can't recall the source, but it did seem legit. I think if he was Croatian it wouldn't be as hard to find that info.

About Tie Domi, way back when he was just a prospect for the Leafs, my cousin asked him if he was Croatian and he said yes...I was standing right there too...weird eh? I wonder if his first name is short for Tihomir? Perhaps he has some Croatian blood or he just doesn't know his backround too well.

About Tie Domi, way back when he was just a prospect for the Leafs, my cousin asked him if he was Croatian and he said yes...I was standing right there too...weird eh? I wonder if his first name is short for Tihomir? Perhaps he has some Croatian blood or he just doesn't know his backround too well.

Tahir has always been proud of his albanian ancestry; so he probably has some croatian in there as well and answered in that way to make him feel a connection.